|
|
Article: Reorganizing Your Subsidiaries? Pay Me Again For That Software!
- Article from:
- Mondaq Business Briefing
- Article date:
- November 4, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Mondaq Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Cincom Systems Inc. v. Novelis Corp., ___ F.3d ___, 92 U.S.P.Q.2d 1085 (6th Cir. 2009), serves as a strong reminder to those structuring and evaluating mergers, acquisitions, and even internal corporate reorganizations to carefully consider the impact of federal intellectual property laws on the transferability of licensed software and other licensed intellectual property. The counterintuitive result in the Cincom case was an award of almost $500,000 to a software vendor as damages for copyright infringement, despite a state merger statute that allowed assets held by a party to automatically vest in a ...